The Visitation

Sermon Preached on the Eve of the Visitation
May 30, 2008, Sung Mass.
In the grand scheme of things, celebration of the Visitation is fairly new. The earliest evidence of it is from 1263 when Saint Bonaventure ordered that it be celebrated by the Franciscans. Over the next hundred years, the feast was celebrated in more places because the Franciscans spread out to more places. The feast was mandated by Pope Urban VI for the whole church in 1389.

Urban was Pope at the beginning of what is now known as the Great Western Schism, which took place from 1378-1417 – this is different from the Great Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity in 1054. For political reasons, from 1309-1377 Avignon in France was the residence of the Pope. The Schism started when, on the death of Pope Gregory IX the last of the Popes who lived in Avignon, the cardinals elected Urban VI, an Italian, as pope, under pressure of the Roman populace who were sick of the Bishop of Rome living in France. Once elected Urban VI began a series of reforms and its said that he took on a very high opinion of himself and a very low opinion of everyone else. His desire to reform the church and his rapidly deteriorating relationship with the cardinals was quickly attributed to insanity. In a short time the cardinals left Rome and elected another pope, who settled in at Avignon and took the name Clement VII. There was immediately a split in the church as different nations chose different side. This situation lasted for twenty years as each side continued to support and elect Popes in both Rome and Avignon. In 1409, A council was convened in Pisa in the hope to settle the issue by electing someone that both sides could accept. This solution didn’t settle anything and resulted in three Popes: One in Pisa, one in Avignon, and one in Rome.

Finally the Council of Constance, which met from 1414 to 1418, settled the matter by accepting the resignation of one pope and deposed the other two. In the midst of this Schism Pope Urban VI ordered that the feast of the Visitation be celebrated throughout the church in the hope that Christ and his Mother would visit the church in the midst schism and bring peace and unity to a divided church.

That same theme of church unity between two other divided communities can be seen in the pages of Saint Luke’s account of Christ and the early church. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke tells us about an encounter a Christian Group has with another group who had received the Baptism of John, but not the Baptism of Jesus. All followers of John the Baptist did not immediately follow Jesus or join the early church. Christians may have been surprised to find out that John’s followers were not necessarily Jesus’ followers. Even to John’s followers, Christians had to take on the role that John himself had played throughout his life as someone who points out who Jesus is to others, a role we are told John played from the very beginning. John leaps in the womb at the presence of Jesus and bears witness to Elizabeth. John took action and Elizabeth took note.

As we celebrate the Visitation, I think that each can follow John’s example. If we take action, I believe that others will take note. Prayer is a form of action. The church is divided today and I hope that we continue to pray that Christ and his Mother will visit us all and bring us peace and unity. Another way we can act and help bring about Christian Unity is by reaching out and supporting other churches that are doing different things than we are doing.

Last Friday I visited a Saint Ann’s Church in the South Bronx that cannot support itself. The neighborhood where the church is listed as the poorest congressional district in the entire United States. The church has over 400 members but only brings in about 25000 a year to keep the doors open and keep the building staffed. Through a wide array of grants they run a weekly soup kitchen, a daily food pantry, after school programs from over 100 children, and a number of other great programs. Their doors are kept open with money from churches like Saint Mary’s. We give over 80000 to the Diocese each year to support other churches and various regional programs. Different churches supply different needs and together I believe that they are more and more able to witness to the world about the love of God in Christ.

I do believe that when you and I take action, people will take note and they will know that our Lord Jesus Christ is present.